Dr. Edward R. Aiken, engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Perry, is a native son of New England, his birth having occurred in Townsend, Vermont, July 5, 1845. His grandfather was Peter Aiken, a major of the Revolutionary war, and his ancestors came from Londonderry, Ireland, to the new world in 1722. His parents were Henry L. and Elizabeth (Robins) Aiken, both natives of Vermont, born in 1801 and in 1809 respectively. The father was a graduate of the Middlebury College of Vermont and was a prominent, able and distinguished citizen of his locality, who for eight years represented his district in the state legislature and left the impress of his individuality for good upon the laws that were enacted during that period. Hen. Henry L. Aiken departed this life in 1875, in which year his wife also passed away. They were the parents of two sons and a daughter: Edward R.; Henry, who is living in Carroll, Iowa; and Ellen, who became the wife of Rev. James Smith and died in California in 1897.
Dr. Aiken entered school at the usual age and passed through successive grades until he was graduated from the Proudfoot high school at Saratoga Springs, New York, when eighteen years of age. Determining upon the practice of medicine as a life work, he began studying under the direction of Dr. L. E. Whiting of Saratoga Springs and eventually matriculated in the Albany Medical School, from which he was graduated in the class of 1868. Thinking to find a more favorable opening in the middle west, he came to Dallas county, Iowa, in the fall of 1869 and located for practice at Minburn, where he remained for about nine years. He then removed to Perry, where he has since remained, covering a period of almost thirty years. He was local surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad Company for about ten years and at the present writing is local surgeon for the Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad. He has also been for the past decade a member of the United States pension examining board and he belongs to the Dallas and Guthrie Counties Medical Society. In his profession he is deeply interested, having long been a thorough and discriminating student of the science of medicine, and he has carried his investigations far and wide into the realms of research along those lines. That he has attained proficiency and skill and that he has the confidence of the general public is indicated by the large patronage which is accorded him and which has made him one of the successful members of the medical fraternity of Dallas county.
On the 5th of January, 1875, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Aiken and Miss Emma Moore, who was born in Canada and is a daughter of Gardner F. and Christina (Wood) Moore, the former now deceased, while the latter is a resident of Canada. Her father was in the marble business as a manufacturer of monuments and tombstones for many years. He belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church and his life was in consistent harmony with his profession. His family numbered seven children but only three survive: James, who is living in Canada; Mrs. Aiken; and Sarah, the wife of G. B. Poll, living in California.
Dr. and Mrs. Aiken have two sons and a daughter. The eldest, Dr. Henry L. Aiken, is a graduate of the Kansas City Dental College of the class of 1905 and is now engaged in the practice of dentistry at Spencer, Nebraska. Dr. Edward M. Aiken, who completed a course in dentistry by graduation from Drake University in the class of 1904, is now at Plainview, Nebraska. Helen is the wife of Harry J. Reynolds, a resident of Gano, North Dakota.
Dr. Edward R. Aiken of this review is well known in Masonic circles, being affiliated with Otley lodge, No. 299, A. F. & A. M., Palmyra chapter, No. 86, R. A. M.; and Girard commandery, No. 56, K. T. He gives an unfaltering political support to the republican party but has never sought the honors nor emoluments of public office, preferring to give undivided attention to his professional duties, which he discharges with a sense of conscientious obligation and with a thorough understanding of the responsibility that devolves upon him.